The Invisible Girl and the Cyborg Girl
by ExceedinglyTrans
Summary: A story about Uchiko (the pigtailed laser-firing member of the invisible storm) and Konomi (the cyborg bear that charged the laser) shortly after the events in the finale of the show.
1. That Day

She'd taken it. She knew doing so would start trouble at the academy again, but she couldn't just leave it. Uchiko had taken the cyborg bear, who she'd once known as her classmate Yurikawa Konomi, and run off with it. She had bundled the little thing in a blanket and run for home, doing her best to keep out of sight of prying eyes.

Now she sat on her bed, the door to her room locked in case her mother got home early. The cyborg bear sat on the blanket she had been wrapped up in and stared up at Uchiko blankly.

"Na... nasty?" it said, cocking its head to the side.

Uchiko smiled, and ran her hand over the metallic side of the bear's head. "You poor little thing... they left you to die there in that box. Or die again, I guess."

The little bear sniffled, one small tear falling down from the corner of her eye. "Nas... ty."

"But don't worry, I won't let you die. I'll take care of you now, and I won't let anyone hurt you!"

The little bear's face lit up. "Nasty!"

Uchiko giggled, and softly poked the bear's face. "And we should see if we can do something about that, too." The bear didn't seem to understand, but still looked very happy.

Stretching out her arm toward her beside dresser, Uchiko grabbed her small toolbox, and brought it to the bed. She flipped it open, grabbed a small screwdriver, and then pulled the little bear close and turned it around so that she could access the panel on the back of its head. Only one little screw held the panel in place, which she easily loosened before carefully taking the panel and setting it aside. Then she got to work. Once finished, she put the panel back in place, tightened the screw, and turned the bear around to look at her.

"Now just a soft reboot, and that should do the trick." Uchiko pressed the power button in the middle of the bear's forehead, then sat back and waited. The little bear's eyes went wide and its face went blank. It twitched a few times, its head hanging to the side, before the light came back into its eyes, and it happily looked up at Uchiko.

"Hello, little bear. Can you talk?"

"Na... nasty?"

"No, not just that word. Can you use others?"

The bear looked to the side, its face scrunched up as though it were going through a great effort. "Na.. nas... Nice." It looked back at Uchiko, a big smile on its face. "Nice girl!"

With a little squeal, Uchiko grinned and clapped her hands together in excitement. "Yay! You did it! And I did it! I fixed you!" She reached out and softly pet the furry side of the little bear's head, which it seemed to enjoy quite a bit. "Such a good little bear..."

"Kon... k-k... Na... Konomi," the bear managed to force out, stomping its little paw on the bed.

Uchiko's eyes widened. Then her face lit up in the warmest of smiles, and she scooped the little bear up into an embrace. "Yes, I'm sorry. Good job, Konomi."

Konomi's eyes closed, and she nuzzled her half-fuzzy head into Uchiko's neck. "U-U... Uchi."


	2. A Week Later

_After an awful week, Uchiko decides to unwind with a bath._

Unlike the fluff of the last chapter, this one is filled with angst, so heads up on that. It's not without cuteness, though.

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After a week like the one Ai Uchiko had just had, it was nice to be able to come home and take a long, relaxing bath. The first thing she'd done, after checking to make sure Konomi was alright, was march to the bathroom, two towels in hand. Once she'd realized Uchiko wouldn't immediately be spending time with her Konomi had whined pathetically, but Uchiko had been undeterred - she needed this. She had placed the mewling bear in a pile of pillows, given her a little kiss on the forehead, and told her to be patient just a little while longer.

Water slowly filled up the bathtub as Uchiko tossed her clothes into a small pile in the corner of the room. Grasping the tub's sides, she cautiously dipped a toe into the thin, rising layer of water. Just right, as usual. She had a knack for getting it to the perfect temperature on the first go.

Soon, she lay in a pool of water that, in her current reclined position, went all the way up to her shoulders. Steam rose from the water's surface as she absentmindedly waved her hand back and forth, enjoying the feel of the water pushing against her skin.

They'd picked her for exclusion, of course. She'd known they would, and though she hadn't been there when the vote was cast, her return to school the next day had made what happened all too clear. Whispers, stares, cold shoulders. It was all familiar, and yet new, now that she was the one targeted.

It was the reasons they came up with that stung the most, whispered as though their utterers wished to hide them, despite the fact that she was clearly meant to hear.

"She's always been different."

"Why's she so into that weird tech stuff?"

"I always thought she looked strange."

"She shouldn't even be going to this school."

"She's not even a real girl."

The sound of a small plop cut through her thoughts. Her cheeks felt wet, even though they hadn't yet touched the bathwater.

With a sigh, she raised her arms out of the water to pull out the hair ties that divided her hair into twin ponytails. That long, dark, black hair touched the floor momentarily before she pulled it all into the tub with her, where it billowed out like ink. She took a deep breath and submerged her head beneath the water. For one brief moment, a dark thought - of never coming back up for air - flitted through her mind. Seconds later, she emerged, thick hair completely obscuring her vision.

Pushing the hair out of her eyes, she reached for her shampoo. They'd noticed Konomi was gone. Not immediately, but it hadn't taken long. She scrubbed her scalp, then moved on to the rest of her giant mass of hair. The theories started off basic, the predominate one, at first, that the cyborg bear had simply wandered off. Soon people were suggesting that maybe someone had stolen it to sell for parts, or maybe to use for experiments. Not long after that they finally turned the theories toward her. Taking another deep breath, she dunked her head into the water to wash the shampoo out.

"She's probably the one that stole it for experiments, what with her tech obsession and all."

"I bet she felt sorry for it. Bleeding heart over a gross bear, what a weirdo."

"She's in love with it, is my guess."

She let loose another sigh, her mouth beneath the water surface, the air from her nose causing small ripples across it. They weren't completely wrong.

A creaking sound from behind interrupted her thoughts. "Mom?" she said, sitting up and turning to check the door. She couldn't see anyone... Weird. Maybe air blowing through the house had pushed it open? It sounded as though the air conditioner was running. She settled back into the tub, a moment later hearing a small 'clack, clang, clack, clang.' Something, or more likely someone, was moving across the tile floor.

"Konomi!?" she said, sitting up and staring around. Sure enough, the little cyborg bear was standing on all fours next to the tub, staring up at her.

"Uchi!" Konomi said happily.

Images of her mother yelling and screeching, of her mom picking up the phone to call for help, of the little bear being shot, flashed through Uchiko's mind. "Konomi, I told you, you can't walk around the house when Mom's home!" she snapped.

Konomi's face drooped. "U... na... Uchi..." she said, sniffling.

Uchiko's heart tore just a little. "Konomi..." She reached down and pet the fluffy side of the bear's head, her wet hands matting the soft fur. "Move around behind the tub, and give me a moment..." She slowly pushed herself up and out of the tub, then carefully walked to the door, the water dripping from her body creating a line behind her. Once it was closed and locked, she walked over to the expectant Konomi.

"Uchi!" the little bear squeaked again happily.

Bending down in an awkward squat, Uchiko poked the middle of Konomi's face. "Silly bear. Things could get really bad if you're discovered... And I can't exactly bring you into the tub with me, you know."

Konomi tilted her head to the side questioningly, and Uchiko lightly tapped the bear's metal butt. "Those parts of you and water don't agree."

The cute but still obnoxious whining began again, which Uchiko quickly shushed. "Just... Let me finish my bath real quick, and then I'll figure something out."

"Okay!" Konomi said, beaming. Then she sat right beside the tub, staring expectantly, until Uchiko finished.

A loud gurgling sound filled the room as water spiraled down the bathtub drain. Her hair already wrapped in a towel, Uchiko started rubbing the other one across her wet body. While drying her back, she happened to glance down at Konomi, who had been patiently waiting and staring at her this whole time. The little bear's eyes, which had been fixed on Uchiko's face, were slowly moving up and down her body. Konomi's mouth was also slack-jawed and color was forming in her cheeks, as though she had only just now realized the person she'd been staring at was naked. Uchiko could feel her own face growing hot. "K-Konomi!" she shouted.

Eyes growing wide, Konomi shook her head back and forth vigorously. "S-Sorry! Sorry!" She turned around to face the wall, shaking nervously.

Uchiko's face burned as she returned to drying herself off. Her mind felt like a swirling mess, unsure of how exactly to feel about what had just happened. She pushed it aside for now, though she did take care to wrap the towel around her body, rather than thow it to the ground like she had originally intended.

"Konomi," she said softly, attempting to keep her voice calm. With tears in the corner of her eyes, Konomi slowly turned. Uchiko gently picked the little bear up to place over her shoulder, rubbing her fingers up and down her friend's furry back. "It's okay, it's okay."

"Sorry, Uchi, sorry... Bad, nasty Konomi..."

Uchiko held ball of fluff out in front of her with both arms. "No, Konomi is not bad, or nasty, or anything like that." Hugging the bear again, she said, "Shush now. It's alright, no one's angry."

Responding with sniffles and a small, reluctant nod, Konomi otherwise stayed silent.

"Now, let's see if we can do anything to wash you... it's probably been a while, huh?" Konomi gave another small nod.

Softly setting Konomi in the large bathroom sink, Uchiko grabbed the pull-out sprayer. "Try to keep your little metal butt away from the drain, okay?" she said as she sprayed a sponge. "The less water we get on those parts the better."

She poured soap onto the sponge, then ran it over Konomi's furry parts, including her upper torso and arms. Setting the sponge aside, she lathered the soap on the little bear's head.

As her fingers ran through Konomi's thick hair, images came to mind of when they had first met. Uchiko had immediately found her attractive, with her beautiful brown hair, cute little freckles, adorable buck teeth... Of course, back then Konomi looked like a human. Technically, all those attributes were ones she still possessed, though the brown hair covered her whole body now. Well, the organic parts of it.

The day she'd found out not only that Konomi had secretly been a bear all along but that she'd also been killed, was a truly awful one. She'd been devastated about both facts, and yet, oddly, the second one seemed to hurt the most. At the time, she couldn't seem to reconcile with herself why she was so sad over a bear's death. When later that day girls from her class approached her with the bear's corpse, wanting her help in reanimating it for an anti-bear weapon, she had desperately wished to decline, to get as far away from the thing as possible, but knew she couldn't if she wanted to avoid exclusion.

Since the project was one involving biology as well as mechanics, Uchiko had been partnered with a girl from another class who had expertise in those areas that she lacked. When examing the corpse, the girl had been surprised to find that the bear wasn't completely dead.

"It was shot through the head, though, wasn't it?" Uchiko had said.

"Yes," the girl had replied. "But the way the bullet passed through, there was actually surprisingly little brain damage. There's also very minor brain activity, and it's breathing, just slightly. It'll be brain dead soon, though, on its own."

They had set to work, the bear constantly on the edge of death, the two girls constantly keeping it from going over. Its legs and lower spine had been irrevocably damaged, likely from falling from a great height. Its head had a hole in it, not to mention brain damage, but they'd been able to salvage it for the most part. The front left portion of the brain, which handled speech, had been the most affected, and at the other girl's suggestion Uchiko had installed a speech inhibitor to mostly prevent the bear from talking - it wouldn't need to talk to serve its intended purpose anyway. The girl had also advised wiping, at least partially, the bear's memory, explaining how in great detail. Uchiko claimed to have done so, even though she had not, for reasons she hadn't been able to explain to herself.

The other girls had all been very pleased with Uchiko's work, but the whole thing had only depressed her further. She hated looking at what Konomi had become. Unfortunately for her, she was assigned the duty of operating the anti-bear laser, so she was forced to look at Konomi's remnants constantly.

And then came the day that Kureha and that bear Ginko had... well, according to everyone else, they had died. But Uchiko knew that wasn't true, and not only because of the lack of any bodies. She'd seen exactly what had happened, and so had Konomi.

"I wish..." she said, her hands stopping midway through scrubbing Konomi's torso, and her sudden words causing the little bear to look up at her in surprise. "I wish I'd been able to fix you... Completely, I mean. Back to how you were before."

Konomi's eyes instantly filled with a great sadness. "Konomi... already broke. Before this," she said, her little paw tapping the side of her head. "Always broke."

Images of herself as a little girl flashed through Uchiko's mind. "Mommy, how come I got different parts than you? The other girls say that's weird. Is there something wrong with me? Am I broke?" she had said.

Tears spilled down her cheeks. She grabbed Konomi and held her tight, pushing their faces together despite it getting soap on her cheek. "No, Konomi, we're not..." She sniffled, and could hear Konomi sniffling too. "We're not broken..."

Later that evening, a minute or two after Uchiko had settled into bed, she felt the foot of it shift, and looked down to see Konomi crawling up. The last few nights she had set the little bear up in the closet in a makeshift bed created with pillows. She had set it up in there in case her mother walked into the room in the morning, which frequently happened, particularly if Uchiko hit the snooze button too many times.

"Konomi..." she said, her tone mildly disapproving.

The little bear, who was halfway between the foot of the bed and Uchiko's head, stared up at her with wide eyes, bottom lip quivvering. "Uchi... please? Don't... don't want alone... Not again..."

Uchiko frowned, her heartstrings sufficiently tugged. "Fine... but just a moment..." She swiftly leapt out of bed and strode over to the bedroom door, which was closed, as it usually was when she went to sleep. It was also normally unlocked, because that's what her mom preferred. But she would rather deal with her mother's angry berating than whatever the reaction would be to discovering a bear in the house.

She plopped back into bed and pulled the covers over herself, tugging them a little harder than normal since Konomi was on top. Once Uchiko was settled, Konomi walked the rest of the way to Uchiko's face, where she rubbed the fuzzy part of her head against Uchiko's cheek.

Pulling away and turning on her side, Uchiko stared into Konomi's white eyes. They still looked sad, as they had for a while now. Despite that, a small smile crept onto the bear's face. "Konomi... loves." Uchiko looked confused. Stamping a little paw against the covers, Konomi tried again. "Konomi loves... Uchi."

Uchiko blinked, her eyes wide. "Konomi..." Tears forming, she reached up to grab the little bear, pulling her close to her chest. She felt so happy, and yet... absolutely terrified.

Shortly after, the two girls fell asleep, one nestled in the arms of the other, both with tears on their cheeks.

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I know it's short and not a lot happens, but there was a disturbing lack of fanart and/or fanfiction of these two, so I had to get this out there to change that. This is probably all I'll write, though there's always the possibility I'll feel like adding to it. Though I have no idea where I'd go with it. I barely knew what I was going to do even with this little thing, I just knew I had to do it.

Well, anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!


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